Norwich City made it 15 years unbeaten in the East Anglian Derby after a Marcelino Nunez freekick was enough to defeat Ipswich Town at Carrow Road.
It was also the first time Ipswich had failed to score in 15 matches in the Championship, and their wait for a win at Carrow Road since 2006 means Kieran McKenna’s side have lost top spot to Leicester City.
The Canaries remain in sixth and have kept their playoff hopes alive with an eighth straight home win.
It was the hosts who started with intent, but clear-cut chances at both ends came at a premium.
Embed from Getty ImagesJust after the half-hour mark, Josh Sargent burst through on goal only to be dispossessed by Axel Tuanzebe’s sliding challenge.
With seven minutes left of the first half, Marcelino Nunez struck from 25 yards. His low, swerving effort somehow squirmed through the gloves of Vaclav Hladky.
There was more fury from the stands when Ipswich captain Sam Morsy and Sargent clashed with the latter again bearing down on goal, but the referee was unmoved.
It took 63 minutes for Ipswich, the league’s leading scorers, to muster an attempt on goal, but Kieffer Moore’s header was catching practice for Angus Gunn.
Embed from Getty ImagesNorwich’s main threat was their counterattacks. On 70 minutes, Hladky was forced to block Sargent’s shot before he found Borja Sainz, but he could not guide the effort goalwards.
Ipswich’s luck in this fixture was summed up when Leif Davis finally found space to release Conor Chaplin inside the area, only for his effort to sail into the stands.
Norwich manager David Wagner speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk:
“If I said in the past that the atmosphere was great at home, I have not said the truth – today was special and great.
“Everybody has seen how such an atmosphere can bring a team forward. I think it was a deserved win – it took a while for Ipswich to have many chances.
“How the defenders worked hard and fought was just great. To keep a clean sheet at home again, eight wins in a row, against a league leader and the biggest rival, it makes it a fantastic afternoon.
“I’m very happy to be part of it, this atmosphere is what we needed. Both teams worked hard and were tactically on a very good level. The only thing I can criticise is we didn’t kill the game.”
Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk:
Embed from Getty Images“I don’t think we had the levels that we wanted to be at in a game like this, but I don’t think it was a very high-level game. To be honest I don’t think there was a lot in it.
“The game was pretty comfortable for us [in the] first 20 minutes. We started pretty well and then there was a 10-minute spell where we had some decisions against us and we didn’t see that out. They scored the first goal and that changed the atmosphere in the ground.
“I don’t think our intensity from a physical point of view was at the level we wanted, that is certainly not effort.
“Everyone comes here with the best of intentions. It’s our third tough game in a week. It was a really emotional one with Southampton on Wednesday. We have physical issues in the group, but I’m not going to go into that. It was a big game, big atmosphere and there were a lot of different factors involved.”
